Ray Gurney, pastor of Cross Creek Baptist Mission, gives thanks last year in a jungle village in Guatemala.
Good morning everyone!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Nola and I sure did.
I have been reminded that today is what many non-profits have dubbed “Giving Tuesday.” This year, God has graciously brought all of us together to give our time, energy, and resources to His mission of making disciples and building up His church.
We are truly grateful for:
Friends like you who are partners in this ministry through prayer, service, and financial investments in the Kingdom of God.
Opportunities to encourage rural pastors and churches all over the Midwest.
An upcoming collaborative Guatemalan & Nicaraguan Evangelistic Soccer Tournament in Santa Cruz Naranjo, Guatemala, in April of 2023.
A soccer team in San Ramon, Nicaragua, spontaneously drop to their knees to give thanks after playing in a tournament last September. Looking on in the distance is Eduardo Mejia, the leader of the project in Nicaragua.
For a quick back story, in September, because of your faithfulness to this ministry, I was able to connect a small Guatemalan delegation with a large team from Project Hope, a ministry in Nicaragua, to serve in a regional soccer tournament in San Ramon, Nicaragua. There were over 700 players and more than 150 people prayed to receive Christ. A local follow-up team is working to connect these new believers with churches in their area.
We are now committed to doing the same thing in Guatemala, and the team from Nicaragua, whose help we really need, feels called by God to help. Of course in order to accomplish this goal, it will require money.
I promised that I would ask my friends to help meet these needs:
Fund the leadership team from Project Hope to train the Guatemalan team in January. Travel, food, and lodging are $1600.
Fund 20 Nicaraguans to serve at the tournament in Santa Cruz Naranjo, Guatemala, in April. Travel, food, and lodging are $6000.
Getting the Nicaraguans there will fast track the Guatemalans’ ability to have a large-scale tournament in April and give us the know-how to do it again with Guatemalans in the future. These Nicaraguan disciples would gladly pay for their own expenses, but their resources are limited by the economic realities in their country.
A Vision Worth Supporting
We believe that our friends all over Central America will catch a vision for this kind of soccer evangelism and need training and coaching to replicate it in other places. So, would you help us fund this project? When you give, indicate in the memo of your check or in the description online that it is for the Soccer Project.
Thank you for your partnership. Keep us posted on what is happening in your world. We love hearing from you.
Gratefully,
Steve & Bill